


overdramatic and true

by theyellowumbrella



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:55:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21927064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theyellowumbrella/pseuds/theyellowumbrella
Summary: 100 different ways to say I love you.
Relationships: Charity Dingle/Vanessa Woodfield
Comments: 8
Kudos: 106





	1. "You're warm."

**Author's Note:**

> even though this has been done 100000x before.... because I love them
> 
> (isn't it crazy how fast time flies? I can't believe it's been nearly a year since I last posted... anyway I'm attempting to have these written at least a few chapters in advance but we know me)

Charity knew that agreeing to take the boys to the party was a bad idea the minute the words left her mouth. She’d been planning on an early night - after the horribly busy past few weeks in the pub coupled with trying to wrangle Sarah into being somewhat well-behaved, nothing sounded better than a nice night in with Vanessa, curled up under their blankets with a cuppa in hand.

God, she’s gotten old.

But then, well then Vanessa had remembered the invitation Johnny and Moses had brought home, and the idea of having to buy a last-minute present, get them ready and take them into Hotten all while having to deworm the Thompson’s cow had sent Vanessa into somewhat of a tizzy.

And Charity’s a good, and kind, and caring fiancee, so of course she’d offered to take them! Because that’s what nice people do. Plus, she’s been on her best behaviour for the better part of a month now.

But then she realised that offering herself up to take them meant she had to be the one rushing to get a last-minute present and corralling them into Hotten, all within the span of a few hours, and all of a sudden her idea of a cosy night in disappeared before her eyes.

She manages to find a somewhat alright present for the kid in some little shop in Hotten, even though the boys are absolutely no help whatsoever - seriously, how hard is it to tell her even one thing their supposed ‘best mate’ liked? - and by the time they arrive at the ice rink, they’re only ten minutes late.

Result, if you ask her.

The party’s alright. Mind-numbingly dull in the way that only kids’ birthday parties can be, but the boys seem to enjoy themselves. They mostly have instructors hauling them about the ice, but there are a few times they manage to entice her out there with them, and she does enjoy it a bit, even if ninety percent of her time is spent picking them up off their bums when they fall.

She makes a mental note to look into a trip as a family, maybe after Christmas.

By the time it’s over, the kids are well and truly shattered. She has to practically carry the both of them to the car, and considering both of their recent growth spurts, that’s no easy task. By the time she manages to get them bundled into their car seats and all buckled up, she’s quite proud of herself.

The one thing she is glad for, though, is that they go down easier than ever before. She doesn’t have to read a single story - in fact, she barely gets the chance to tell them she loves them before they’re completely zonked out, snoring soundly.

She creeps out their room and through the hallway to hers and Vanessa’s, where she sees light spilling from under the door. She can hear Noah shouting into his headset from his room and Sarah’s is suspiciously quiet - she knows that the responsible thing to do would be to tell him to keep it down and investigate her granddaughter, but really, all she wants is her fiance.

When she enters the room, she’s greeted by the sight of Vanessa in bed reading a book. At the sound of Charity’s footsteps she looks up, smiles, and then dog-ears her page before setting her book down on the bedside cabinet.

“Hey, you.” She pulls the duvet cover on Charity’s side of the bed back and smiles when Charity begins stripping herself of her clothes before getting in beside her. “How was it, then?”

“Oh, you know…” She peels her jumper off and throws it in the general direction of the bin, not even blinking when she misses completely and it lands on the floor. “Horrible.”

Vanessa laughs, her eyes briefly following the direction of Charity’s discarded jumper before quickly resettling on her face. “That bad? Oh, you poor baby. Come ‘ere.”

Charity crawls into bed and immediately curls herself around Vanessa. “Oh, you’re warm,” she says, pulling her closer.

“And you’re cold! Oi!” Vanessa yelps the second Charity’s cold feet make contact with her calf. “Get off!”

“Oh come on, babe. Share the warmth.”

“Where was this ice rink, the North Pole?” Vanessa grumbles, but she doesn’t push Charity off her.

“Might as well have been.” Charity sighs into Vanessa’s shoulder and rests her leg on top of Vanessa’s. “Oh, but the boys loved it, so I suppose it was worth it.”

Vanessa laughs. “Oh, you’re all heart, you. Next you’ll be telling me you’re actually looking forward to Christmas.”

Charity gasps, and digs her toe into Vanessa’s calf, eliciting a sharp hiss and a quick pinch in the side from the other woman. “That’s slander, that is. I could get you done for that.”

She falls asleep quickly that night, basking in the warmth radiating from Vanessa’s body and counting herself very lucky that she somehow ended up marrying a human heater.


	2. “Can I have this dance?”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Need me to warn her off for ya?”
> 
> “Forgot you were solid.” Vanessa nips at her side, prompting a sharp hiss and an, “Oi!”
> 
> “Yeah, I am, see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> merry christmas!! <3

Charity didn’t really know what she expected of Chas and Paddy’s wedding, but it certainly wasn’t this.

Of course, it would make sense that the two of them couldn’t possibly have a normal wedding, but even by Dingle metrics, having half the village crammed into Ashley’s pirate ship wasn’t normal.

But they’re having fun. Charity looks at Chas from across the room - although she has to peer right over Nicola’s shoulder to do so - and when they make eye contact, Chas gives her the most content smile she’s seen in a long time. She looks lighter, somehow - like Paddy’s just lifted the weight hanging round her neck and told her she can breathe now.

So she supposes it’s not all bad; supposes he’s not all bad.

Not that she’d ever tell him that, of course. That head of his doesn’t need to get any bigger.

After yet another person pushes right past her and knocks her into Nicola, she decides that the novelty of the pirate ship has officially worn off and gotten to the point of being annoying, and slips out the door. She spares a quick glance over to where Liv and Gabby are herding all the kids onto the slide before slinking off into the house.

It’s sort of weird, being in Laurel’s house, knowing that Jai lives here now, too; after everything with Declan, she’d compartmentalised all those different parts of her life so that she never had to think about them again. Cain went in one box, and Jai the next, and Declan another.

So, seeing Jai’s things scattered about the house she once shared with Declan - his jacket hanging on the back of the door; the photo of Eliza on the windowsill; that God awful blanket his Nan knitted him slung across the back of the sofa - is … jarring, to say the least.

It all feels jumbled - pieces of her life, who she used to be, all clashing in ways they shouldn’t. For a second, when she closes the door behind her and looks into the living room, she can almost see Declan sitting on the couch, whisky in hand.

And then, as if by magic, Vanessa sneaks up behind her and rests her head on Charity’s shoulder, and all of the memories melt away. She snakes her arms around Charity’s waist, fingers clasping together like a belt resting on her stomach. Charity sighs contentedly.

“Hey.” Vanessa presses a kiss to her shoulder blade and then unwinds herself from around Charity. “I wondered where you’d sneaked off to.”

“Just needed a bit of a breather, babe.”

Vanessa’s brow furrows. She reaches out, takes Charity’s hand in her own and begins rubbing gentle circles with her thumb. “Why? Has something happened?”

She only frowns a little bit when Charity breaks out laughing. “God, no, babe. No, don’t worry. I’ve just been pushed up against Nicola King one too many times tonight.”

“Need me to warn her off for ya?”

“Forgot you were solid.” Vanessa nips at her side, prompting a sharp hiss and an, “Oi!”

“Yeah, I am, see.”

Charity huffs for a few seconds, rubbing at her side with the same look Moses gives when they pull him out the biscuit cupboard on her face, before she gives it up.

  
“What about you, then? You love a wedding, you. Thought you’d be living it up on the dancefloor? Or, well… the starboard?”

“I was, but then I saw Noah was dancing with some girl. Think I might have been cramping his style a bit.”

Charity laughs at the image. She can’t imagine Noah would have been best pleased at having Ness jiving in the corner of his eye while he’s trying to put the moves on someone.

Definitely her son.

“Probs for the best, babe.” She floats across the room, towards the little CD player Laurel’s got sat on the shelf. God. What decade is this? “That being said, I’m not really in the mood to be a granny again, so hopefully Chas has her eye on the teenage hormones.”

“It is her wedding, Charity, I think she might be a bit caught up in other things.”

Charity narrows her eyes. “Do you want to be a granny? ‘Cus my maths is telling me that any baby conceived tonight will be born after we’re married, making it your grandchild.”

Vanessa whitens. “Anything happens, we blame Chas.”

Charity laughs. She loves this ridiculous woman. She crouches down so she’s eye length with Laurel’s CD collection and opens the cabinet that houses them; she’s almost grateful to find a thick layer of dust covering them all, because at least that shows that the CD player is somewhat of a relic in the house.

Glad to see Jai’s dragging Laurel into the 2020s, kicking and screaming as it may be.

Eventually, she picks some old CD filled with sappy love songs out after inspecting the tracklist. Usually, she wouldn’t ever do something like this - not even with Vanessa - but, well. The wedding spirit’s in the air and all that.

“What are you doing?” Vanessa calls across the room.

“Shh! Just wait.”

She pops the CD in the player, presses play and then quickly skips to track fourteen, where the starting melodies of Can’t Take My Eyes Off You start to fill the room. Vanessa laughs that ridiculous laugh of hers - the one that means I can’t believe you and you continue to surprise me and I love you - as Charity swoops back across the room to where she’s standing by the sofa.

“Can I have this dance?” she asks, extending her hand.

Vanessa beams back at her. “Why, of course.”

At first. Charity plays up the dancing so it’s somewhat of a joke, full of overdramatic twirls and dips, but eventually she slows it down so it’s barely even a dance, more just the two of them holding onto each other and swaying side to side. She feels so silly and even a little bit exposed, but she knows this is exactly the kind of soppy stuff Ness loves, so she keeps going even when the song changes to one she doesn’t recognise.

“We’re next, you know,” she says into Vanessa’s ear.

“Next?”

“Our wedding.” She pushes Vanessa out a bit and gives her a little spin, more to distract her while they speak about this than anything else. It feels almost funny that she’s still insecure talking about the wedding more than a year after the proposal, especially after she’s been through the whole process a million times before, but she still finds her palms sweating each time it’s brought up. “You are gonna have to up your dancing skills before then though, babe. Seriously.”

“You’re ridiculous, you know that?” Vanessa says, but she’s smiling like she hasn’t got a care in the world.

“‘Course babe. Wouldn’t be as fun if I wasn’t, would it?”

As Charity goes back to spinning her around ludicrously, she takes in the room around her - all the unhappy memories that come with it included - and concludes that yeah, it was all worth it, just to be standing here in this moment.


	3. “It looks good on you.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She’s not even sure why she’s so worried. It’s not that she’s having doubts - no, if there’s one thing she knows, it’s that Charity Dingle is the woman for her. It’s just that, statistically, this hasn’t gone so well for Charity in the past.
> 
> God, does that make her an awful human being to think that? It probably does, doesn’t it.

Vanessa takes a deep breath in, and then out, and then in again, and out again.

She tries not to think about how this is the most important day of her life, because then she really will panic. And she’s not panicking. Absolutely not.

_In and out._

She’s not even sure why she’s so worried. It’s not that she’s having doubts - no, if there’s one thing she knows, it’s that Charity Dingle is the woman for her. It’s just that, statistically, this hasn’t gone so well for Charity in the past.

God, does that make her an awful human being to think that? It probably does, doesn’t it.

_In and out._

She knows, logically, that the day’s going to go well, but then again, what if it doesn’t? What if there’s some freak accident on the M6 that not only stops half her family from getting to the wedding but kills them too? What if, under Noah and Sarah’s dubious supervision, one of the boys chokes on a piece of food and they can’t remember how to do the Heimlich and they die?

_Iiiiiin…… and out._

That’s not even to mention the fact that Paddy’s the one walking her down the aisle. She misses her dad so much, and is it even worth it? To have a wedding knowing that he won’t get to be there, get to finally walk her down the aisle and see her truly and completely happy.

_In, and -_

“Not thinking of doing a runner, are you?”

“Charity!” she exclaims. She runs as fast as she can to the window, where she wraps the curtain around her body in a pathetic attempt to hide her dress. “You’re not supposed to see the bride before the wedding. It’s bad luck. It must be like, double bad luck for us.”

Charity laughs, and walks closer towards her. “Babe, I’ve had my fair share of weddings, and I can tell you now, whether or not they’ve seen me in my dress has had no standing on how they’ve turned out.”

Still, Vanessa refuses to budge. She keeps her eyes squeezed shut so she doesn’t see Charity’s either.

Charity rolls her eyes and leans forward, tugging at the curtain. Vanessa just clutches it tighter in response. “Oh, babe, you’re being ridiculous. Come on.” Nothing. “I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours,” she adds in a singsongy voice.

After a few moments where it becomes clear Charity isn’t going to be the first to relent, Vanessa sighs and slowly begins opening her eyes. When she finally lets herself open them properly and take a good look at her bride-to-be, she’s so overcome with emotion at the sight of her that she accidentally lets go of the curtain

“You look…” she starts, but she stops, because how? How is she meant to put it into words?

“Yeah, you too, babe,” Charity says, a little breathless. “It looks good on you.”

Vanessa smiles, and she goes to say something about how unlucky this is and how they must now be destined to have a terrible wedding, but when she opens her mouth all she can bring herself to do is press it to Charity’s and pull her into a kiss.

When she finally pulls away a few minutes later, Charity gives her that annoying smug smile of hers and asks, “What about the bad luck?”

“Oh, shut up,” is her reply before she goes in for another.


	4. "Go back to sleep."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charity still remembers getting the call the night of Noah’s first sleepover, telling her that she wasn’t to worry, but that he’d fallen off the top bunk and they were driving him to the hospital to get him checked out so if she could please meet them there.
> 
> She still shudders at the memory.

They’d been apprehensive at the idea of the boys’ first sleepover.

Vanessa because she’s a worrier by nature. Charity because she still remembers getting the call the night of Noah’s, telling her that she wasn’t to worry, but that he’d fallen off the top bunk and they were driving him to the hospital to get him checked out so if she could please meet them there.

She still shudders at the memory.

Still, the boys assure them that they’re ready, and after a full week of pressure from not only the two of them but Noah and Sarah as well, they agree to it mainly just to shut them up.

Plus, they’ll have each other if they get scared. It feels pretty foolproof.

That is, of course, until it’s half past two in the morning and Charity’s phone is  _ blaring  _ down her ear like it’s trying to make some sort of point.

That point probably being  _ I told you so. _

Vanessa shifts in her sleep, but somehow, the sound manages not to wake her. Charity finally answers after about eleven or so rings, and mumbles out the most exhausted, “Hello?” of her life.

The woman on the other end - the mum whose name she just can’t quite place at the minute - sounds just about as exhausted as Charity does, and she almost feels a little sympathy for her before she remembers she’s the one who just woke her up from her lovely, lovely sleep.

Charity listens as she witters on about their night, and how the boys were absolutely  _ fine _ even at bedtime, and she has to stop herself from drifting back to sleep several times before the woman gets to the point that the boys are now inconsolable and begging to go home.

Because of fucking course they are.

She mumbles out to the woman that she’ll be there as soon as she can before stumbling out of bed and making her best attempt to get dressed in the pitch black of their bedroom without waking Vanessa. She fails, of course, because at this time of night she’s like a bull in a china shop trying to navigate the room.

“What’s going on?” Vanessa asks, wiping at her eyes as Charity attempts to pull a pair of pyjama bottoms on. “Where are you going?”

“It’s nothing, babe, go back to sleep.” Vanessa makes a noise of dissent, something Charity’s able to loosely translate to mean  _ no, what?  _ “I’ll tell you in the morning, okay?”

She tries to push herself up but ultimately slides back down again. “No, what’s happening?” she asks, or at least that’s what Charity  _ thinks _ she asks. She’s not one hundred percent.

She sighs and weighs the pros and cons of telling her up in her head. There’s the fact that Vanessa’s not going to let her leave without telling her, but then again, as soon as she knows what’s going on, she’s going to demand to come with. But then, she  _ is _ their mum, after all…

“Look,” she starts softly, creeping towards the best as gently as she can. “It’s not a big deal, but the boys have got a bit upset, so I’m going to go and pick them up.”

Vanessa bolts up, and Charity finds her worry ridiculously endearing for this time of night. “I’m coming with you.” She tries to get out of bed, but Charity leans forward and stops her, holding her in place gently.

“Babe, you need to sleep, alright? It’ll be fine. I’ll go now, we’ll be back in no time.”   


“No, I want to come - they need me.”   


Charity laughs softly. “Ness, you can barely keep your eyes open.” Vanessa gives her  _ that look, _ the one she knows means danger, so she backtracks just a bit. “And look, you need to stay here in case something happens with Sarah. Besides, you’ve got work in the morning.”

She stops straining against Charity’s grip, but doesn’t lie back down. She’s quiet for a few moments, clearly mulling over her options in her head, but eventually sleep must win over because she collapses back into her pillows and pulls the duvet up over her body.

“Fine,” she says. “But wake me up when you get in.”

“‘Course,” Charity says, pressing a kiss to Vanessa’s cheek before slipping out the door.

By the time she gets back into the room an hour and a half later, the boys successfully wrangled back into their own beds and all cried out, Vanessa’s dead to the world once more. She crawls in beside her and decides she can deal with the bollocking that’ll come from not waking her up in the morning, and lets herself drift off.

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by this list: https://p0ck3tf0x.tumblr.com/post/98502010026/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you
> 
> chapters done in no particular order, obvs, and set in no particular year/universe
> 
> I'm on tumblr @noahdingles and twitter @charitydingles! :)


End file.
